Paradise wild animal park - Hertfordshire

The best zoo in Hertfordshire

Just north of the M25 is the Paradise wild animal park – Hertfordshire’s best undiscovered gem. As a small, friendly zoo it has a family feel, compared to the large, impersonal London zoo about 20 miles away.

So what makes this zoo special? Well you can get up close and personal with these animals because the paradise wild animal park is the top provider of experience gifts with animals in the whole of the UK.

Most of these activities involve feeding a particular animal and usually take between half an hour and an hour.

Go on then, what animals can I see?You can do anything from feeding lions and cheetahs, to feeding lemurs or penguins. You can even try being a zookeeper for the day and get your hands on all the animals.

It’s quite a small animal park, so they don’t have bigger animals like giraffes or rhino, but there’s plenty to keep an animal lover occupied, even if you don’t pay for a separate experience. And that’s the main issue –the price for even the cheapest experience, tickling a tapir and feeding him his dinner, costs just short of £100. At that price, you better be sure you’re going to enjoy it!

Getting the cheapest animal experience at the parkThe park’s website, (pwpark.com) has all the animal experiences at the best prices. Make sure you book before you go to avoid disappointment because the experiences often sell out.

The park has a policy of allowing only one person on each experience – this ensures everyone has a much better time, and more one-on-one time with the animals, but it also means the experiences sell out pretty fast.

Any experiences that are not booked are advertised at the gate on the day. But don’t rely on this happening because they are very popular.

If you don’t want an animal experienceThe Paradise park is still a great zoo, and the animal’s homes seem nice, clean and large. This isn’t the sort of zoo that has a sad polar bear pacing round a pit.

Also, most of the enclosures have innovative viewing platforms where you can look down at them and get a really clear view – this is especially good for kids.

There are plenty of big cats, gibbons and even a hot house where a friendly sloth lives

You’ll find a nice café and play ground there too, and plenty of entertainment to keep you amused for a long afternoon. The keepers regularly talk about the animals when they’re feeding them too, so make sure you check what time that happens.

How to get there.The park is just off Junction 25 of the M25. It’s in a small town called Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, and there are plenty of brown tourist signs to show you the way.